What you need to know to start bikepacking and essential kit – a Geographical Equipment Matters guide
By Tristan Kennedy
It’s one of the great forgotten adventure stories of the American West. At 5.30 am on 14 June 1897, 20 soldiers from the 25th US Infantry Regiment set off from Fort Missoula in Montana to travel 3,058 kilometres to St Louis, Missouri. The 25th was one of the regiments formed in the wake of the Civil War, made up of African American troops and nicknamed the Buffalo Soldiers. Many of these men had parents who’d been enslaved. Yet arguably the most remarkable thing about them wasn’t their heritage, but their chosen method of transport: the bicycle.
At the time, the ‘safety bicycle’ (a bike with two, equal-sized wheels and a chain, resembling today’s bikes) was a relatively recent invention, and this epic journey was something of an experiment. Officers in the US military wanted to test its utility and reliability, with a view to forming a permanent bicycle corps. James Moss, a 25-year-old lieutenant (who, like all the Buffalo Soldiers’ officers, was white) volunteered his men for the job.
Moss was an evangelist for the newfangled invention’s potential. ‘The bicycle has a number of advantages over the horse,’ he wrote. ‘It does not require as much care, it needs no forage, it moves much faster over fair roads. It is noiseless and raises but little dust, and it is impossible to determine its direction from its tracks.’ In a bid to prove his contention that ‘the bicycle has a place in modern warfare,’ the men of the 25th braved the high mountain passes of Montana and the baking heat of the Nebraska plains.
Their single-speed Spalding bikes might have been cutting edge at the time, but they weighed nearly 30 kilograms – crazily clunky by today’s standards – and each was laden with around 40 kilos of gear, including camping kit, weapons and ammunition. Despite this, they pedalled into St Louis on 24 July, just 41 days after setting off. They had covered the distance almost twice as fast as cavalry could have, for one-third of the cost.
At the time, this incredible effort was widely celebrated. The men had a journalist accompanying them on the expedition and were welcomed by crowds in St Louis. But with automobiles and motorcycles developing rapidly, the army decided that it didn’t need bikes and the proposed bicycle corps never materialised. Latent racism has meant the achievements of black US servicemen were persistently overlooked throughout the 20th century, and the story of the 25th’s epic bike ride all but disappeared from the history books.
It wasn’t until 2022, when the black cyclist and blogger Erick Cedeño decided to retrace their ride, that their story received renewed attention. Cedeño, who posts as the Bicycle Nomad, wanted not only to rescue these pioneering black cyclists from obscurity, but also to celebrate them – and their journey – as one of the earliest examples of bikepacking.
A portmanteau of ‘bike’ and ‘backpacking,’ the word bikepacking was first coined by a National Geographic journalist in 1973. It’s only in the last 20 years, however, that the discipline has really taken off. The cynically minded might claim it’s just the age-old sport of cycle touring rebranded by millennials (in much the same way that they’ve repackaged the old-age pastime of caravanning as #VanLife), but aficionados claim there’s a discernible difference. It’s partly about the choice of route: bikepackers prefer to ride dirt roads or single-track mountain bike trails over smooth tarmac. But it also has a lot to do with gear.
While cycle tourers ride touring bikes – solid beasts, designed for the road – bikepackers ride hardtail mountain bikes or, increasingly, gravel bikes. These are just as tough and durable as tourers, but their thicker tyres and slightly ‘slacker’ frame geometry make them better suited for venturing off-road and up steep inclines.
It’s not just the bikes themselves that are different either. If you’re tackling trickier terrain, you want to minimise the amount of gear that you carry. Weight considerations – already important in cycle touring – become paramount. ‘If in doubt, leave it out,’ is a mantra for many bikepacking enthusiasts and some like to joke that the discipline gets its name from the constant process of packing and repacking your kit that’s needed to make stuff fit. The kind of bags you use to carry your kit are another key signifier of bikepacking. On rough terrain, the capacious panniers that cycle tourers strap to their forks become impractical. Bikepackers tend to favour frame bags. These keep the weight centred and away from the wheels, which improves the bike’s handling – crucial if you want to be able to actively enjoy off-road descents.
It was partly the 25th Infantry Regiment’s use of frame bags on their epic journey across the USA that led Cedeño and others to claim them as bikepackers, as opposed to tourers. Their bicycles certainly weren’t mountain or gravel bikes, but their route was the kind you would definitely want a gravel bike to ride today.
The main reason these brave men were considered bikepacking pioneers, however, wasn’t the kit they took, or the route they rode – it was the mindset their journey embodied. As the editor of Bikepacking.com once wrote, the discipline is defined by having ‘dirt intention’ on a bicycle. This means you’re setting out to ride on trails rather than tarmac, but it’s also about having a particular attitude. Bikepackers are deliberately trying to get a bit muddy, to test the limits of themselves and their gear. This was exactly what the adventurous cyclists of 25th Infantry division set out to do – and why the memory of their pioneering bikepacking trip is worth celebrating.
Wishlist – Three items that will make hiking better
The Surprisingly Useful: Wizard Works Framebagcadabra Frame Bag – £110
Frame bags are standard issue for bikepackers, but many opt for big packs that fill the bulk of the main triangle. By contrast, this bag, made by UK bikepacking specialists Wizard Works, only takes up about the top third of most frames. The large size measures 49 x 16 x 6 centimetres and gives you just 3.5 litres of carrying capacity, but this means it can easily be combined with bottle cages, or other bags mounted on the downtube. It’s still big enough to carry the bits you need for shorter bikepacking missions and it’s light enough (235 grams) and streamlined enough that it can be left on your bike even when you’re not going out overnight. Best of all, it comes in customisable colours. wizard.works
The Luxury: Tailfin Aeropack Carbon Seatpack – £340
If you’re going on a bikepacking adventure of any length, you’ll probably want some sort of seatpost bag. What makes this high-end rigid seatpack a luxury item, as opposed to an essential, is the fact that it’s made out of carbon. Weighing just 772 grams, including the mount, it gives you 18 litres of carrying capacity, with a maximum load of nine kilograms. It’s easy to mount on any bike, thanks to the tool-less adjustment system. It’s also 100 per cent waterproof, opens easily and works even if you have a dropper post fitted on your bike, making it ideal for singletrack trails. tailfin.cc
The Essential: Finna Explorer Gravel Bike – £2,650
The first thing you need is a bike, and they don’t come much better suited than the Explorer, made by well-respected Spanish brand Finna. It’s a classic gravel bike – built tough, out of hard-wearing Reynolds 275 steel, with geometry designed to handle rugged trails. There’s a healthy amount of clearance between the bottom bracket and the ground, and the 71° head tube angle means you can ride pretty precipitous downhills without feeling like you’ll go flying over the bars. The standard build includes a 1×11 Sram Apex gearing system and Sram centreline disc brakes. Most importantly for bikepackers, there’s plenty of space in the minimal frame for bottle cages or frame bags. The Explorer is adventure-ready and raring to go. finnacycles.com
